Tahiti is 4,109 miles from Los Angeles. Rebecca and Brad ran there.

Menu

Tag Archive | lists

Reactions to my Disney movie rankings surprised and delighted me. I was glad to see so much love for Pocahontas in your responses. I thought that might be an outlier, especially since it’s so historically inaccurate. But if you look at the film as a work of pure fiction and not historical fiction, it truly is one of the most beautiful animated films Disney has made—I think. I do hope, if nothing else, that my list has compelled one or two of you to give Brother Bear a chance.

I had so much fun ranking the Disney animated features, I simply couldn’t stop there. So here it is; behold the Pixar list. I wonder if perhaps we’ll find our lists match up more closely here. There seems to be a bit more consensus on the quality of Pixar’s canon, but who knows, I think some things may surprise you.

PS, word of warning, just thinking about Toy Story 3 has caused me to start crying at my desk, so if you’re not comfortable crying at work, maybe stop now and read later. You know how Pixar gets you.

I really do love making lists. Lately I’ve been so tickled to share picture book recommendations with friends that I got the idea to compile a list of my all-time favorites. This list could go on forever, so let’s see if I can limit the number to fifty—for now. It should be noted that I haven’t included any Dr. Seuss books here, as the Doc really deserves his own list. Also not listed here is Winnie-the-Pooh, which falls somewhere in between picture books, chapter books, and middle grade, but just know that no matter what, Winnie-the-Pooh is always on the top of my list.

I do so deeply love picture books, and not just because I write them. I love them because they introduce human minds to the concept of reading. How weighty is that? I love them because they are a perfect marriage of the written word and visual art. We don’t get that enough in the “adult” world. Much of the art you’ll find in picture books is daring and experimental. I love them because when you condense storytelling into such short form, you often can’t help but end up with myth and fable. To read a brilliant new picture book is to witness a fairy tale being born. It’s exciting.

If you’re wondering about my taste, okay I’ll tell you. I like books that pull on specific strings in the old heart. I like books that make me cry hard, laugh hard, or feel weird inside. It’s like I’ve got these book-shaped holes in my heart and my favorite books are the ones that were meant to fill those holes. I’m not one for lukewarm books. That sounds negative, but I don’t mean it to be. There are plenty of books in the world that are solid from beginning to end and I read them and I didn’t necessarily cry or laugh or question much, but I liked it a whole lot. Knuffle Bunny comes to mind. It’s a great book. It’s charming. It’s lovely. It’s solid. You should read it. I just wouldn’t put it on my fifty list.

Here they are, in some particular order but certainly not in any sort of scientific ranking. My favorite picture books:

The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks by Katherine Paterson illus. Diane Dillon

The Snurtch by Sean Ferrell illus. Charles Santoso

Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming illus. G. Brian Karas

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds illus. Peter Brown

Orion and the Dark by Emma Yarlett

Nerdy Birdy by Aaron Reynolds illus. Matt Davies

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto illus. Ed Martinez

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Tea Rex by Molly Idle

The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch illus. Michael Martchenko

Aberdeen by Stacy Previn

President Taft is Stuck in the Bath by Mac Barnett illus. Chris Van Dusen

Journey, Quest, and Return (Journey Trilogy) by Aaron Becker

The Whisper by Pamela Zagarenski

Teeny Tiny Toady by Jill Esbaum illus. Keika Yamaguchi

Guess Again! by Mac Barnett illus. Adam Rex

Oh goodness there are many more, but I promised to stop at fifty. There are lots of books that I love for specific reasons, e.g. how they address a certain issue, but for this list I tried to stick to my general favorites. What do you think? Any big ones that I missed? What picture books would you add to the list?

I discovered that yesterday was National Running Day via the most reliable news source out there… Facebook. (It’s sad how many breaking news stories I’ve caught first on Facebook this year). What is this National Running Day you speak of? At first I figured it was just another silly “fill in the blank here___” Day, otherwise known as an excuse to eat, drink or be merry. Examples: National Drink Wine Day, National Yo-Yo Day, National Battery Day. Wait? Screeeeeech. National Battery Day? It’s true. There is a National Battery Day. There is also National Repeat Day. There is also National Repeat Day.

Needless to say, although I am a runner, I did not give much credence to National Running Day. Some retired marathoner probably just declared June 1st National Running Day and got a few of his buddies to go along with it, right? Then I noticed it was a trending topic on Twitter. Hmmm. More than 10 people must be aware of this “holiday.” Turns out the creators of National Running Day have put together quite a swanky little website in honor of our favorite pastime. It’s, like, actually kind of organized. They’ve got major sponsors, national activities, and make it a vessel for fundraising. Impressed!

Here is the manifesto of National Running Day. It sums up exactly why I love running:

National Running Day, held annually on the first Wednesday in June, is a day when runners everywhere declare their passion for running. Wherever we are and whomever we’re with, we run—fast or slow, alone or with others, all over town or just around the block. It is a coast-to-coast celebration of a sport and activity that’s simple, inexpensive, and fun. It’s the perfect way for longtime runners to reaffirm their love of running and for beginners to kick off a lifetime and life-changing commitment.

That’s so cool! I hereby declare my support of National Running Day and am rather bummed that I missed out on the communal frivolities yesterday. I was too distracted by the beauty of Marilyn Monroe.

According to the website, here are the 10 ways I could have celebrated Ntl. Running Day:

Declare your passion (Do that all the time on this blog)

Bring a runway to work (Not even sure what that means, so I guess I didn’t do it)

Morph your friends into running friends (I got Brad to go on a run with me. He’s my friend. Also my friend Nick told me he ran yesterday. That counts.)

Change happy hour to running hour (I had to babysit post-work yesterday, which entailed running after a 5 year old. That totally counts)

Strike new ground (yeah, I didn’t really do that)

Give the gift of happy feet (this involves donating to a charity that makes athletic shoes accessible to children in need. I didn’t do this yesterday, but it’s such a cool org, I definitely plan on donating soon!)

Make running run in the family (My family lives in Sacramento/Long Beach/New York. Did any of you run yesterday?)

Choose a running resolution (Oooh, that’s a good one. I didn’t do that yesterday; but I did pledge to run to Tahiti at the beginning of this year so I think I’ll focus on that resolution for awhile. Totally counts)

Take advantage of the great outdoors (I live, and run, at the beach. Counts)

Treat yourself like a champion (I do that everyday! 🙂 )

As it turns out, I covered most of the National Running Day celebratory suggestions by default. Further proof why making running a part of your lifestyle can be so rewarding. Happy belated national running day everyone!

PS, they’ve also got a great “10 Tips for Beginning Runners” on their website! I’m totally going to steal it and include it in my next edition of A Beginner’s Guide to Running. Plagiarism be damned.